It is opening day in the minor leagues. Tonight three of the Indians full season affiliates Triple-A Columbus, Double-A Akron and High-A Carolina will open while Low-A Lake County opens up their season on Friday. In our annual preview of the Indians minor league system, several IBI writers share their thoughts on what to watch this season, who can breakout, and so much more.

The 2014 Carolina Mudcats in the spring of 2014 are a vastly different team than they were a season ago. Last season, the Muddies debuted with their prior two first round draft picks in Francisco Lindor and Tyler Naquin. As expected, both top ten prospects made quick work of the Carolina League, and were playing in Akron by the end of the season. Also gone is arguably the Indians top pitching prospect in Cody Anderson, who followed Lindor and Naquin, as well as several other high upside Indians’ prospects, to Akron for the 2014 season.

Minor league camp wrapped up on Saturday and on Sunday all players arrived at their full season destinations. With that, a little over 100 minor league players are set to open the season on Thursday or Friday this week at Triple-A Columbus, Double-A Akron, High-A Carolina and Low-A Lake County. Here are the rosters!

Last week we wrapped up the 2014 Top 50 prospect countdown, and today we unveil the beginning of our 2014 Positional Rankings by kicking off things with the first basemen in the Indians system. First base is a position where the Indians have some strength in the upper levels, but beyond that it is a position of great uncertainty and one of the weaker positions in the organization. Join Tony as he breaks down the first basemen in the system.

The 2014 Winter Olympics have featured the world’s greatest hockey players, including Team Canada, who defeated both women’s and men’s U.S. hockey teams on Thursday and Friday. Rob Nixon loves hockey, but it was America’s past time that led to his career in baseball with the Cleveland Indians. The IBI's Stephanie Metzger recently caught up with him...

As spring training gets underway, here is an updated Cleveland Indians depth chart for the 2014 season and where players are "projected" to be assigned from Cleveland all the way down to extended spring training. We will continue to update this listing as moves are made this offseason, during spring training, and throughout the season with the addition, subtraction, promotion, demotion, etc of players. Happy pitchers and catchers day!

It’s been said that life begins outside one’s comfort zone, but Cody Anderson knows better than to get too comfortable while toeing the rubber. After huge strides in 2013 with his continued transition from a reliever in college to a starter in the pros and gaining confidence in his secondary pitches, he looks primed for a big year in 2014. The IBI's Stephanie Metzger recently caught up with Anderson and discusses how his transition to the pros has gone to date.

Joe Wendle has become an increasingly polarizing prospect in the Indians system as his value is all over the map according to national pundits. Some like him, some don't. Wendle has performed very well in his short career, and was named the IBI's Offensive Player of the Year for his outstanding year last season. The IBI's Jim Pete and Michael Hattery discuss why Wendle is a legit prospect and why he is criminally underrated.

Indians outfield prospect Bryson Myles suffered a shoulder injury early in the 2013 season. The setback was frustrating and certainly a diversion, but it led to some soul-searching that may have turned his season and even career around. The IBI's Stephanie Metzger recently sat down with to discuss his 2013 season and everything you took from it.

Today, we wrap up our offseason Coach's Corner series with part two of our two-part interview with former High-A Carolina and new Double-A Akron manager Dave Wallace. In part one, the IBI's Tony Lastoria and Wallace talked about Tony Wolters, Joey Wendle, Erik Gonzalez, Bryson Myles, Alex Lavisky and others, and in part two they discussed several other top prospects that Wallace worked with in Carolina. He talked about the impact both Francisco Lindor and Tyler Naquin had to the roster and what makes them so special, the bulldog mentality of Cody Anderson, the natural hitting ability of Jordan Smith, the growth of Shawn Morimando, the confidence in Jerrud Sabourin and so much more.

Today, we wrap up our offseason Coach's Corner series with a two-part interview with former High-A Carolina and new Double-A Akron manager Dave Wallace. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recently had a chance after the season to sit down with Wallace and provides his comments about the amazing strides that Tony Wolters made at catcher in just six months and how committed he is to the new position, the impact bat and legit prospect that Joey Wendle has turned himself into, the out of nowhere climb that Erik Gonzalez has made as a prospect, the big change for Bryson Myles, the strengths of Alex Lavisky and more.

The Cleveland Indians today announced the organizational staff alignment within the Player Development System for the upcoming season. Chris Tremie remains as manager in Columbus while Dave Wallace moves up to Akron and Scooter Tucker moves to Carolina. Edwin Rodriguez has moved into a special assistant role and the Indians also welcomed in several new coaches.

On Wednesday the IBI's Tony Lastoria posted part one of his extensive interview with Indians minor league pitching coordinator Ruben Niebla. In that piece we discussed a lot of the strides made and some struggled encountered by a great many pitchers at the full season affiliates. In today's second part, he provides Niebla’s thoughts on a bevy of young arms at the short season levels, gets into several of the philosophical and mechanical changes the Indians implemented in 2013 with how they develop pitchers, and discussed a ton of velocity jumps made by a litany of pitchers this season.

The IBI's Tony Lastoria recently had a chance to sit down with Indians minor league pitching coordinator Ruben Niebla and discussed the strides and sometimes the struggles for a great many pitchers at the full season affiliates this year. They talked about how Dylan Baker and Cody Anderson have separated themselves as prospects, the development of Shawn Morimando and Joe Colon, the rise of Will Roberts and Matt Packer, the work being done with Trevor Bauer, the resurgence of Bryan Price, and lots more.

The Major League Baseball roster deadline on November 20th is quickly approaching. While not highly publicized, this is a key date in the offseason as it is one of the first steps teams take to finalize their roster for the upcoming season. The IBI's Tony Lastoria takes a deep look into all of the roster options and uses lots of insight gained from talking to people inside and outside the Indians organization to determine the players to be rostered and some surprises that are not.

The Arizona Fall League (AFL) season ends today. It finishes up a five-plus week of extra games and development opportunities for several minor league players across all 30 major league organizations. For Indians second base prospect Joe Wendle, it was another opportunity to drive home his status as a legit prospect in the organization, and he has delivered.

We continue on with our year-end pieces for the Indians minor league affiliates as we wrap up High-A Carolina with a look at the pitchers. Recently, the IBI's Tony Lastoria had a chance to sit down with Indians Assistant Director of Player Development Carter Hawkins to get the organization’s thoughts on the performance/development of some of the pitchers at Carolina this season such as Cody Anderson, Shawn Morimando, Nick Pasquale, Joseph Colon, Louis Head, Jacob Lee, Benny Suarez, Owen Dew and more. Just under 15 pitchers are profiled.

We continue on with our year-end pieces for the Indians minor league affiliates with a look today at the hitters at High-A Carolina. Recently, the IBI's Tony Lastoria had a chance to sit down with Indians Assistant Director of Player Development Carter Hawkins to get the organization’s thoughts on the performance/development of some of the position players at Carolina this season such as Francisco Lindor, Joe Wendle, Tyler Naquin, Tony Wolters, Bryson Myles, Jordan Smith and others. Over a dozen position players in total are profiled.

2013 was a year of change for Tony Wolters. At the tail end of spring training a little over seven months ago he was pulled into the Indians offices in Goodyear, Arizona and received word that he would be making the switch from the middle of the infield to catcher. The IBI's Tony Lastoria recently had a chance to sit down with Wolters to talk about the position change, how things are going in the AFL and what the future has in store for him.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!